Richard Williams
July 9, 2000
By William C. Rhoden
New York TimesWIMBLEDON, England -- Late Friday afternoon Richard Williams sat in the empty stands of a vacant court at Wimbledon. He sat there drenched by sun and history. In 24 hours, his older tennis-playing daughter, Venus, would attempt to grab a bit of history when she faced Lindsay Davenport in one of the most highly anticipated matches in years.
Posterity is fine, but first you have to win. She finally did yesterday when Davenport netted a forehand volley, and Venus was able to show the emotion that had been so compromised in Thursday's semifinal victory against her sister, Serena. With her 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory, Venus became the first African-American woman to win since Althea Gibson won for the second time in 1958 and the third black person to win a Wimbledon singles title.
Venus and Serena WilliamsAn hour earlier on Friday, Venus and Serena, had won a doubles semifinal match, and later today they could become the first sisters to win that championship. But instead of offering perspective on his daughters, Williams chose to offer hard-edged snapshots of history in order to make a larger point about his two daughters' presence here.
He went all the way back to slave ships at Cape Coast Castle filled with Africans. He talked about how newly arrived bondsmen and bondswomen endured a process of being broken down, prepping for work on farms and plantations. How they had language taken away; traditions taken away. He described how the assault on pride, self-esteem, dignity shaped priorities, then and now.
"Most black people want to do what white America does," Williams said.
"That's why a lot of them are not successful. Lots of time most black people, if they have something good going for themselves, they'll move. What we've learned is that we have to go back and look at our history. Many blacks don't know their history, so we do what we are told to do, like we did many many years ago in the fields. Once you learn your history, you don't have to go and move out of the neighborhood you're in."
He also talked about how Americans have spent succeeding centuries reconstructing the history of slavery and its impact on generations, discovering who and what they are and, by extension, what the United States is.
Venus and Serena are large pieces of that puzzle.
They are not your classic pioneers: not understated muted, conciliatory. Not grateful. They don't walk the thin line between embracing who they are and trying not to offend mainstream sensibilities.
"We ain't walking a line," Richard Williams said. "We are the line. We are the history. That's why you're here talking to me and everyone else is right now. Because when people see the history, they want to know 'What's going on?'
"When we first came up they said, 'They're cocky; you can't talk to them. They're crazy. Something's wrong.' They didn't know whether we were a bulldog, a hound dog or what -- but they knew it was something. But as they kept talking to us, they learned that we knew our history; we don't need to walk no line," Richard Williams continued. "Any time a man walks a line that means he needs something to follow; we ain't following nothing. Now, if you want to follow behind us, great. You'll learn how to get to the top.
"When you learn your history, you feel proud of who you are. That's all history can teach you," Williams said. "It can't teach you anything else. So it's not about money; it's about learning your history -- what you're about, who you are."
With the Williams sisters making a major impact in tennis and Tiger Woods dominating golf, three athletes of color have broken through the thick membrane of history in country-club sport. With effort, Richard Williams said, not money.
"It doesn't take money to be successful in tennis or golf," he said. "It takes determination to do what you're going to do. With that determination and a great player and a great deal of hard work, you will succeed.
I really believe that in order to be successful, you must have a plan. It can't be one in your head either, it's got to be one that's written out so your optical nerve can take it to your brain.
"Mostly what it takes is determination and having a plan in place. Knowledge is power; the more knowledge you have, the more power you have. We as a people don't read what we need to read. Very few people in America understand our history."
Venus and Serena have been peppered with questions about the meaning of their presence at Wimbledon. The question came up again Friday after their doubles match.
"There have been so few black people to win Wimbledon or even just to play outstanding tennis," Venus said. "So hopefully there will be more. Naturally, we're going to do our best to change that. We already have."
Richard Williams said he has advised the sisters to answer questions about the issue of race and history but not to dwell on it.
"It's not going to do any good to talk about it here or any place else," he said. "What would you talk about history here for? Actually it would be a waste of time to talk about anything that's here. She," Richard Williams said, referring to Venus and Serena, "doesn't own anything here, she doesn't need anything here. In fact, what we see is that they need us here, because we can sell their magazines, their television and everything else." The television rating from Thursday's matchup between the two sisters was a 28 percent increase over last year's telecast.
Williams uncoiled from his narrow seat, rose to his feet. Time to get back into the fray, more interviews and finally some down time before the huge match.
Williams looked around at the grounds, the rich green architecture of Wimbledon.
"We don't come here trying to be a part of this," he said. "We're here because we're all of this."
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